Jaguar toys with Star Wars special effects for new I-Pace EV

Jaguar wants Star Wars sound effects

Jaguar toys with Star Wars special effects for new I-Pace EV

Jaguar wants Star Wars sound effects

21 Nov 2016Stephen Corby

The electrifying new Jaguar I-Pace - which shocked the world when it was unveiled in California last week - was supposed to emit a sound very much like a pod racer from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, according to its designer, Ian Callum.

"When I was working on it, I did envisage it making a noise, but we haven't put it in the car yet; it was kind of like a Star Wars pod racer, a sort of zzzhhheeww! And whoop-whoop-whoop! It was lovely," Callum told Drive, looking and sounding like an overgrown, bearded child.

Like many people at Jaguar, and in the car world generally, Callum says he's very saddened by the impending demise of the grumbling, menacing sound of internal-combustion V8s, but he believes EVs will soon be required to make artificial noises, to forewarn pedestrians, which opens up exciting new possibilities.

"Noise, I think, will happen as legislation comes in. I think there'll be a need in some countries for some sort of artificial noise, so that gives us a chance to start thinking what white noise or blue noise or green noise would sound like, which should be a bit of fun, or you could just transmit a V8 noise if you want," he enthuses.

"I think eventually you'll just sort of download the noise you want. You might have the Grateful Dead playing or something."

Callum was equally enthusiastic when talking about driving prototypes of his latest creation, the I-Pace, a project which he's hugely passionate about, and which has reignited the joy in his job.

"I found this car hugely satisfying, I've really enjoyed it; doing conventional cars, it drives you a certain way, I needed something different, and it's definitely inspired me in a lot of ways," he explains.

"I drove the prototype last week and it's very impressive and what strikes you first is the performance, but there's no noise.

"But what you get is a sense of serenity that you don't get in an F-Type. Every morning when I go to work in mine, I start to wonder, do I really want this bloody noise all the time?"

Callum has been sounding like a futurist in the Elon Musk mould of late (he's unstinting in his praise of Musk's "handsome" Tesla Model S, because he believes much of its success can be attributed to the way it looks) and believes cars will change more in the next 10 years than they have in the past 100.

"I do believe it's going to change because the whole structure of the car will change, electrical platforms are completely different, there's going to be autonomy, there's going to be all kinds of electronic gizmos, and infotainment and connection," he says.

"It'll happen in the space of the next 10 years, and it'll happen dramatically."

Callum, who is no doubt already sketching what those cars will look like in a decade, jokes that he's not afraid of the pace of change "because I'll be retired by then".

Press him on what self-driving cars will look like and it's clear his thinking is already well progressed. He points out that we're already at the first stage - conventional cars with limited autonomy - but says the next stage will see a shift in ergonomics, where "you don't have the wheel so close to you, you have other things you want to use while it's driving itself".

The third, and some would say final, stage will be the driverless transport module, as Callum calls it. Cheerily, he thinks there'll still be an element of design in those,

"When people are driven around in limousines, they can still be particular about what they're being seen in," he points out.

"The physical side of it, the electric side of it, excites me hugely because it gives us more freedom. It surprises me how some designers do not see this opportunity that has opened up to them, and still see electric cars as looking like internal-combustion cars, which are driven by other parameters. I can't see for the life of me why that happens."

Callum believes we won't see car companies working on many new, large-capacity internal-combustion engines, and that electrification is about to take off in the next decade, which will force governments to invest in charging options.

"I don't think governments can go and cry on the one hand 'you must make zero-emission cars' and then not offer the infrastructure to go with it. I know in the UK they're very much moving in that direction, but every country will be slightly different," he says.

"If the Chinese decide, wholesale, they want to go electric because of their own issues with pollution and so on, then that will drive huge momentum into the technology and the infrastructure."

So, with the I-Pace set to make the leap from concept to road-going reality in just over a year, what will Jaguar do next?

Callum hints at a whole new family of EVs but says what dictates their size, and shape, at present is the range of the batteries. With current technology, they needed the kind of wheelbase an SUV offers to squeeze enough batteries in to achieve the range they believe makes them saleable; more than 500km between recharges.

He says thinner batteries, and slimmer floors and chassis will open up more possibilities, and that the performance potential for EVs is phenomenal.

"We've got 400 horsepower out of this, and it's not difficult to get. So you can easily put two 300 horsepower engines together and suddenly you've got 600 horsepower, and all-wheel drive, and you're going to get a very quick machine," he says.

"We're a brand that's had a lot of catching up to do, we've caught up, and rather than just sort of being followers, let's just for once make a big step forward. Let's be brave enough to go and leap ahead. And this car has surprised a few of our competitors, I know that for a fact.

"I don't think any of the competitors will be that close behind. For once in our history, we have the opportunity to leap ahead of the other three, or four (luxury brands)."